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Gbese re o: Shark rips off swimmer's penis (Graphic Photos)

A teenage boy had his penis ripped off by a shark as he swam with friends near a beach.

18-year-old Jose Ernestor da Silva and friends were swimming when lifeguards told them to come closer to the shore where it's safer. The shark struck just at that moment, ripping his penis off.

Horrified holidaymakers are seen in footage rushing to the young man's aid and pulling him from the sea as the attack unfolded. He was pulled onto Piedade beach near Recife in Brazil and concerned beachgoers tried to stem the blood by tying garments around the wound, while others can be heard tell the clearly stunned teenager to "breathe".

An ambulance rushed Jose to hospital, where he reportedly suffered two heart attacks and is in a critical condition. Despite undergoing emergency surgery, his penis and femur were "amputated" by the bite of what is believed to be a tiger shark, according to medics.

Rodrigo Matias, from Recife’s fire department, said the victim was swimming with his brother and friends in deep waters near the shore, in an area marked by signs warning of shark attacks. Seeing that the group was drifting further out, lifeguards called for them to return to shallower waters.

He said: "At the exact moment in which the lifeguards asked for them to come closer to the beach, he was bitten."